US automaker Ford Motor Co on Monday said it plans to invest US$11.4 billion in electric vehicle (EV) production, in a bid to position itself to lead the US’ shift away from fossil fuels.
The company said that it is to build four new plants to produce EVs and batteries that will create 11,000 new jobs by 2025.
Together with its South Korean partner SK Innovation Co, it is to build the factories in Kentucky and Tennessee, Ford said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
It is to invest US$7 billion, part of a US$30 billion investment already announced last spring, and SK Innovation will put up the remainder, the statement said.
It would be the “largest, most advanced, most efficient auto production complex in its 118-year history” and would place the company at the forefront of the country’s shift to electric vehicles, Ford said.
“This investment supports the company’s longer-term goal to create a sustainable American manufacturing ecosystem, and to accelerate its progress towards achieving carbon neutrality, backed by science-based targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement,” it said.
Photo: Reuters
The company expects between 40 and 50 percent of its global vehicles to be fully electric by 2030, the statement said.
The announcement came amid strong demand for the company’s new F-150 Lightning pickup and other electric models such as the E-Transit and the Mustang Mach-E.
Like its competitor General Motors Co, Ford is striving to catch up with Tesla Inc, the main pioneer of electric vehicles.
Ford, which revolutionized automated car production a century ago, said its rollout would be “the largest ever US investment in electric vehicles at one time by any automotive manufacturer.”
Echoing a theme close to US President Joe Biden’s economic plans, Ford chief executive officer Jim Farley said that the investment was “about creating good jobs that support American families.”
Ford’s announcement will give a boost to Biden’s Democratic Party, which is to put a massive infrastructure investment plan of about US$1 trillion to a vote in the US Congress this week.
The Democrats say that a switch to a greener economy could create millions of jobs.
In its original form, the infrastructure plan provided for the construction of a national network of 500,000 charging stations by 2030 and a switch to electricity for 20 percent of the country’s yellow school buses.
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